Ask Blogs
If you've already gone ahead and read our in depth explanation, then you already know that while ask blogs are definitely a large part of the fandom, they are not by all means the only part. To explain them though, a good chunk of them are focused on the canon version(s) of the Once-ler, or reinterpretations of him. People create these ask blogs to have fun, be creative, or just to contribute something that they enjoy in general. Some ask blogs are start out as jokes, but the creators decide to keep them going beyond the period of time originally intended. This can be confusing for outsiders, who assume that all ask blogs were created in sincerity, and are not "in" on the inside jokes. These ask blogs are listed to some extent at the masterpost blog over here. I also highly suggest checking the newler tag, as well as the lerkimpails tag. It should be remembered that not all ask blogs are of the Onceler; there are many Ted Wiggins and Normas out there, which is something to keep in mind. The Mainverse Referring to an ask blog as a "mainverse" ask blog simply means they are independent of any fandom au. There may be a seperate canon where the character is in participation of one, such as for example, truffula flu, but they are generally seperate, albeit connected offshoots. In that sense, while a blog such as coffe-ler may be very divergent from the lorax storyline itself, he is still in that sense, a "mainverse" ask blog. You can be a "mainverse" ask blog, AND diverge greatly from the lorax canon. Some ask blog go farther away from the original source material than others. Usually it’s just small things when somebody makes an ask blog: for instance, maybe he actually didn’t chop down trees when making thneeds, and continued harvesting tufts. Or maybe he's a real cheapskate. But then again, he could also be hanging out with Ted Wiggins via weird time travel shenanigans. In that sense, it’s not a game of “hide this original character under the onceler moniker” it’s a game of “wow I wonder what would happen if this one detail or two was changed in his personality or story." Of course, then you have Deoncelerization. As a note, Fandom AUs are explained seperately here. Deoncelerization Deoncelerization is when an ask blog becomes so much its own character, as opposed to one in the seuss/lorax canon, that the ask blog mod decides to make them their own character, and completely makes the character their own OC. A lot of people sometimes share headcanons over what ask blogs would look like if they deoncelerized, but that doesn’t mean they will, as it’s just (in those instances) for fun. Entire AUs can become deoncelerized though; for example, the Deoncelerized version of Camp Weehawken is known as "Camp Deehawken." Thornville High is the Deoncelerized version of Thneedville High, and also happens to have its own wiki page. These Deoncelerized versions of aus may be connected via history and spirit, but are not the same thing. In terms of seperation from "Oncelerness" though, the process can be different for different characters. Some remnants of the Once-ler times may still remain depending on the mod, such as the flurry of strange and oddly descriptive nicknames and a surprising lack of a fathers. However, in the end these amount to basic coincidences after seperation. Many of the mods want their characters to be known and seen as originals, rather than fan characters or alternate universe versions of a pre-existing characters. So basically, don't call them Once-lers. They're not - or at least they're not anymore.